For most people, pingpong is a game relegated to a garage or basement rumpus room - a simple
pastime with few rules and little competitive muscle.

Which explains why the sight of 6-foot-4-inch Ricky Vesel seemed so surprising: Wearing a
sleeveless T-shirt and sweat-soaked bandanna, he was engrossed in a furious battle on the Northwest
Side. A competitive player for two years, even Vesel is periodically taken aback.

"Once you start learning," said the Ohio State University graduate student, 23, "your eyes are
opened." He is a member of the Columbus Table Tennis Club, a longtime group of about 60 regulars
offering both newcomers and award-winning phenoms the chance to share a passion, improve their
games and get an unlikely workout.

Founded in the early 1960s, the club - previously based in the Clintonville and Franklinton
neighborhoods - occupies a former World Gym space in the sparsely occupied Olde Sawmill Square
strip mall.

Visitors might buy a membership or enjoy an evening of unlimited play for $5 - a rate intended
to keep the nonprofit group accessible.

"I want to share the game," said Greg Brendon, the club president and unpaid manager of the
space six days a week.

The scene on a recent Thursday was mostly quiet, beyond squeaking sneakers on synthetic hardwood
and the repetitive, hypnotic ricochets of pingpong balls off paddles.

Puh-tat! Puh-tat! Puh-tat!

Within the club ranks lies a rainbow of ethnic diversity: Skilled devotees from India, Japan and
South Africa mingle with top-ranked performers such as John Tannehill - the No.1 player in the
"Ping-Pong Diplomacy" trip to China (depicted in the 1994 movie
Forrest Gump) in 1971.

"There are a lot of good players in the area," said Tannehill, 58, of Dublin, who heads to the
club three nights a week with his 31-year-old son, Soren.

"The game is much more technical than it used to be. It demands of you in every way."

The game, begun in England during the late 19th century as an after-dinner diversion, has found
global appeal, thanks in part to its 1988 inclusion as an Olympic event and the China exchange of
almost 20 years earlier - which helped thaw relations between the United States and its secretive
communist adversary.

At the Columbus club, which draws an age range from 8 to 89, late adulthood apparently provides
little disadvantage.

"This is the perfect sport," said Mark Shapiro, 79, of Reynoldsburg, who has played since his
college days in St. Petersburg, Russia.

"It's good for concentration, good for your eyes."

In 2008, Shapiro took top honors in the 75-and-older division at a national contest in Las
Vegas.

He doesn't plan to retire, given recent trips to table-tennis matches in Brazil, Germany and
Switzerland.

Some champions, Shapiro noted, compete from wheelchairs.

"Of course, I cannot move like when I was a child, or when I was 60, but I am a defensive
player. I have sophisticated game."

He had been on his feet for more than two hours, rarely stopping for water.

Puh-tat! Puh-tat! Puh-tat!

The club boasts a long list of decorated alumni, with others not in it for the glory.

Greg Forsee, a 57-year-old home inspector from Plain City, sought the activity for the purpose
of fitness.

"My son thinks this is ridiculous, but it's an ideal aerobic balance," said Forsee, who has seen
a "tremendous" energy boost after a few weeks of two-hour sessions.

"It took me five days to recover after my first visit."

Those new to the game are matched with players of similar skills.

Others might opt for free coaching from the 76-year-old Brendon, a retired newspaper columnist
and bus driver - and a certified coach.

"I just love it," said Brendon, happy to explain the mechanics of a deceptive "loop" stroke
(which grazes the ball for a killer spinning return); the various textures of sponge-bat paddles
(whose raised bumps, called "pips," help facilitate straight shots, while the smooth surfaces
enable spins); and the importance of movement and a stance not too close or far from the table.

According to a 2010 survey by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, which represents
equipment producers, an estimated 19.3 million people in the United States - up from 12.7 million
in 2000 - play table tennis, making it the fifth-fastest-growing U.S. sport, ahead of baseball,
soccer and football.

Membership in USA Table Tennis, the national organizing body, has shown annual growth, with the
Colorado-based group making a push to promote the game among schools and dabblers.

"Friends don't let friends play in the basement," joked Michael D. Cavanaugh, CEO of the
organization.

The diversion has its fans at bars (actress Susan Sarandon has opened three pingpong nightclubs
called SPiN and started work on a reality show about the subculture) and, for eight years, as a
component of the Arnold Sports Festival.

Celebrities such as rapper 50 Cent and novelist Salman Rushdie profess their fondness for the
game, too.

Members of the Columbus Table Tennis Club, though, don't see the activity as a fad.

To them, it represents a way of life - as seamless and rhythmic as the natural back-and-forth
exchanges on their 12 tables.

"It's a peaceful activity," said Tannehill, who compared the game to yoga, "concentrating on
your movements and the harmony they create."